


Princess Dress-Up Party

by AnnaTheHank



Series: Domestic Manfreds [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Babysitting, Family, Gen, It's date night, Leo and Carl talk and bond and stuff, M/M, They play dress up, it's a mess but it's fun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-20
Updated: 2018-09-20
Packaged: 2019-07-14 14:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16042730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaTheHank/pseuds/AnnaTheHank
Summary: Gampa Carl and Uncle Weo babysit for Markus and Simon. Lila makes them play princess dress up party.





	Princess Dress-Up Party

Markus stood in the doorway, checking the time. “Simon, if we don’t leave now we’ll be late.”

“One sec,” Simon said from the kitchen. He pinned a list of numbers to the fridge. “Now, these are all the emergency numbers you may need. There’s ours of course, the police, the hospital, the pediatrician, the neighbor has a key in case you get locked out-”

Leo interrupted him. “How on earth would we possibly get locked out of the apartment?”

“Uh, I don’t know,” Simon said. “Maybe you step out for a breath of fresh air and a bird flies in through the window and runs into the door, slamming it shut?”

“That’s incredibly unlikely, babe,” Markus said. He wandered over to the group and placed a hand on Simon’s arm.

“I’m just trying to cover all the bases,” Simon said. 

“Don’t worry,” Carl said. He tapped his fingers on Lila’s head as she sat in his lap, staring up at them. “She’s in good hands.”

Simon took a deep breath. “I know. But I’m her Dad. I have to worry.”

Lila reached up and Simon lifted her into the air. “Bye-bye, Daddy,” she said. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek. “I wuv you.”

Simon muffled his cry and hugged her. “Do we have to go?”

“We’ve already canceled on them twice now,” Markus said. He leaned over and kissed Lila on the head.

“I wuv you, too,” Lila said.

Markus gasped. “And the quicker the better.” He grabbed Lila and handed her to Leo, pulling Simon out of the apartment by the arm.

“Bye, Sweetie!” Simon called as they left. “We’ll be back soon!”

“Well then,” Carl said with a sigh once the door was closed. Leo placed Lila back on his lap. “Now we have you all to ourselves,” he said, adding a soft evil laugh at the end.

Lila laughed and bopped him on the nose. “Will you pway Pwincess Party with me?” she asked.

“I would love to,” Carl said.

“You guys have fun with that,” Leo said. “I’ll start dinner.”

“Can we have chicken nuggies?” Lila asked, bouncing up and down a bit.

“Well.” Leo leaned against the counter and crossed his legs. “Your dad’s did say you should have a healthy dinner.” Lila opened her watery eyes wide and stuck out her lower lip. “But…I don’t see them around so nuggies it is!”

“Yay!” Lila threw her hands up in triumph. “Now, to the party!”

Carl chuckled and wheeled her away to her room. Leo shook his head at them and started cooking. He listened to them laugh and play as he prepared the nuggets and stuck them in the oven. They had 20 minutes to cook. He figured he could get a bit of T.V. watching in after he made sure the two weren’t dead.

“How you two doing in here?” he asked, sticking his head into the room. 

The place was a mess. Fabric of all colors was spewn about and glitter covered the floor. Carl turned to him, his face a splotched mess of make-up. Lila ran out from her closet, a yellow princess dress draped over her normal clothes.

“Jeez,” Leo said. “I leave you alone for five minutes.”

“They did say to keep her safe,” Carl said, smiling down at the girl. “They said absolutely nothing about how clean that task had to be.”

“I’m not taking the blame for this,” Leo said. 

“Uncle Weo,” Lila said, walking up to him. “Will you pway with us?”

Leo looked at her wide eyes and innocent face. “No.”

“Pwease,” she said. Her eyes started to water again and her lip quivered.

“I don’t play princess party,” Leo told her. “If you want to play a nice little game of Parcheesi then I’m your guy.” 

“Gampa?” Lila turned her sad expression to Carl. 

He looked at Leo with a droopy face. “It’ll be fun.”

Leo sighed. There was no use arguing with the both of them. “Fine,” he said, letting Lila lead him into the room. “But I’m not wearing makeup.”

“That’s okay,” Lila said. She had him sit in the center of the floor next to Carl. “I can do your hair.” She lifted his hat off and grabbed a little bristle brush, running it through.

“Absolutely no scissors,” Leo said, already regretting his decision. 

“I’m not allowed to pway with scissors,” Lila said, a hint of sadness in her voice.

Ten minutes later Leo’s hair stuck up all over in odd little ponytails held together by a rainbow color of hair ties.

“You look beautiful,” Lila said. She placed a plastic tiara on his head and took a step back. She smiled. “I dub thee Pwincess Weo, ruler of the west.” She bowed, then giggled and ran back to her closet.

“It suits you,” Carl said, chuckling softly.

“Have you looked in a mirror recently?” Leo asked. He stood up and stretched.

“I have an I look fabulous,” Carl said, smirking at him.

The oven beeped in the kitchen.

“Time for food,” Leo said. He wheeled Carl out to the kitchen, Lila skipping along behind them.

“Can we watch a movie?” Lila asked. “Daddy got me Pwincess Loretta of the Deep and I wanna watch it awl the time.”

“Wouldn’t you rather watch something else?” Leo asked. He took the nuggets out of the oven and set three plates on the large kitchen island. 

Carl helped Lila climb into a seat. “No,” she said. “Why would I watch anything other than my favwite thing?”

“You might find a new favorite thing,” Carl said.

She shook her head at him. “I don’t think so.”

So they watched Princess Loretta of the Deep. Carl seemed to enjoy watching Lila sing along to the musical sections. Leo kept himself from dying of boredom by playing games on his phone. Luckily the battery lasted or he would have lost it.

“That is such a good movie,” Lila said, finally settling down on the couch. 

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Leo said. He stuffed his phone back in his pocket and stood up. “Now it’s bedtime.”

“Awww can’t I stay up just a wittle wonger?”

“Not a chance.” Leo placed his hands on his hips. This time he meant business. She pouted at him again but he stayed strong and shook his head.

Lila sighed, her body deflating into the cushions. “Okay. Will you wead me a stowy?”

“I’m sure Gampa would be glad to,” Leo said. He picked her up and carried her to her room.

“No, I want you.”

Leo sat Lila down on her bed. “Really?”

She climbed herself under the covers and nodded. “I pwomise I’ll go wight to bed.”

“Uh,” Leo looked around, picking a book up off the bedside table. “I don’t really know how…”

“We’ll do it together then,” Carl said, wheeling up next to him.

Leo nodded and sat down on the edge of Lila’s bed. “A Super Silly Day.” He made a face and opened the book. “I can’t wait to be a superhero,” he started reading.

“No,” Lila said, squirming in her bed. “You gotta do it in the voices.”

“What?”

“Like this.” Carl cleared his voice and in a deep rumble repeated the first line of the book.

Lila giggled. “Yeah. Wike that.”

Leo took a deep breath and gave it a shot. “When I save the world everyone will love me.” He raised an eyebrow at Lila. She nodded enthusiastically and gave him a thumbs up.

Leo and Carl continued to read on, sharing the various roles of the characters in the book. Lila’s eyes started to close and by the time they got to the moral ending of how being yourself is what makes people like you, she was dead asleep.

“Thank God,” Leo said. He put the book back on the table and turned off the lamp, the room filled with the soft blue light of Lila’s cloud-shaped nightlight.

“It’s my biggest regret, you know,” Carl said, smiling down at the sleeping toddler. 

“What’s that?” Leo asked. He pulled the covers up around Lila a bit so they covered her shoulders.

“Missing these moments with you.”

Leo looked over at Carl but the man’s eyes were fixated on the girl. 

“I just never suspected I would want a family like this. “When you were born, I didn’t know what I should do. I knew I had to provide for you,” he finally made eye contact, “but I couldn’t bring myself to raise you. I…” his fingers fidgeted. “I never saw myself as a father.”

“Yeah well,” Leo shrugged. “You’re more of a grandfather type anyway.”

“I’m sorry, Leo,” Carl said. “I should have been there for you.”

Leo swallowed down a tear. “Don’t worry about it. You’re here now. That’s what matters. Besides, you’ll be here for her. And that’s enough.”

“Yes.” Carl wheeled closer to the bed and leaned over, kissing Lila on the head. “And perhaps I’ll be there for your children, one day.”

Leo chuckled quietly and stood up. “Hey, if you aren’t a father type then I sure as hell ain’t.”

The front door opened and the father and son walked out to the main room of the house.

“How’d it go?” Simon asked, rushing past them to Lila’s room.

“Just fine,” Leo said.

Markus stood in front of them and chortled. “It’s a great look for you, really it is.”

Leo ran his hands through his hair, removing the ponytails. “Shut-up,” he said.

Simon returned, cracking the door to Lila’s room and sighing. Then he turned squinted eyes to Carl and Leo. “What the hell happened in there?”

Leo held up his tiara and shrugged. “Princess Dress-Up Party,” he said. “It was their idea.”

“Well,” Carl said, looking away from Simon’s stare. “This has been fun but I’m afraid we must be on our way. Leo?”

“On it.” Leo grabbed Carl’s chair and swiftly wheeled him out of the apartment.

“It’s a mess in there,” Simon said. He sniffed at the air. “And they gave her chicken nuggets for dinner.”

Markus smiled. “Looks like they had a fun time. And on the plus side, she’s not dead. I’d call that a win.”

Simon looked at the open movie case on the floor and shuddered. “We’ll have to ask them back soon.”


End file.
